Sample pages

Contents 5
CHAPTER 5—BLUEGRASS .......................................61
Lesson 1: Bluegrass Rhythm ................................................61
This Hammer’s Too Heavy ..............................................62
Lesson 2: Bluegrass Lead ......................................................63
Come on and Sit on Top of My Kitchen Counter ..........64
Lesson 3: Transposition .......................................................65
Lesson 4: More Moveable Chords .....................................67
This Hammer’s Too Heavy (in A) ...................................67
Lesson 5: Bluegrass Blues in A ............................................69
Bluegrass 12-Bar Blues in A .............................................69
Bluegrass 12-Bar Blues in A (Lead Break) .....................70
Lesson 6: Bluegrass in a Minor Key ...................................71
Dark on the Drive Home .................................................72
Lesson 7: Kickoffs and Tags .................................................73
CHAPTER 6—ROCK MANDOLIN ..........................75
Lesson 1: Rock ’n’ Roll Folk Strumming ...........................75
The Long Forgotten Daze of My Youth ..........................76
The Battle of the Elves, Dragons and Rock Vocalists ....76
Lesson 2: Arpeggiating Chords ...........................................77
The Long Forgotten Daze of My Youth
(Arpeggio Chords) ..........................................................78
The Battle of the Elves, Dragons
and Rock Vocalists (Arpeggio Chords) .........................78
Lesson 3: Rock Mandolin Improv .......................................79
The Long Forgotten Daze of My Youth (Solo) ...............79
The Battle of the Elves, Dragons
and Rock Vocalists (Solo) ..............................................80
APPENDIX 1—THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC ....81
Lesson 1: The Major Scale ...................................................81
Lesson 2: The Circle of 5ths ...............................................82
Lesson 3: Intervals .................................................................83
Lesson 4: Fingerings for Intervals .......................................85
Lesson 5: Harmony and Chords ........................................89
Lesson 6: Musical Expression ..............................................91
APPENDIX 2—GUIDE FINGERS .............................93
APPENDIX 3—CHORD FORMS ..............................94
APPENDIX 4—HOW TO PRACTICE ...................95
“Home base” Technique; When and What ...................95
Organizing a Practice Session .............................................95
Buy a Metronome ..................................................................96
An MP3 CD is included with this book to make learning easier and more enjoyable. The symbol shown at bottom
left appears next to every example in the book that features an MP3 track. Use the MP3s to ensure you’re capturing
the feel of the examples and interpreting the rhythms correctly. The track number below the symbol corresponds
directly to the example you want to hear (example numbers are above the icon). All the track numbers are unique
to each “book” within this volume, meaning every book has its own Track 1, Track 2, and so on. (For example,
Beginning Mandolin starts with Track 1, as does Intermediate Mandolin and Mastering Mandolin.) Track 1 will help
you tune to this CD.
The disc is playable on any CD player equipped to play MP3 CDs. To access the MP3s on your computer, place
the CD in your CD-ROM drive. In Windows, double-click on My Computer, then right-click on the CD icon
labeled “MP3 Files” and select Explore to view the files and copy them to your hard drive. For Mac, double-click
on the CD icon on your desktop labeled “MP3 Files” to view the files and copy them to your hard drive.
1
Track 1